There are ways and ways to take revenge. The one of a thief caught in flagrante in the act was to cause a fire in the shopping center that had expelled him after being caught stealing. The 52-year-old man was detected by the security service of the La Vaguada shopping center in Madrid and expelled from the premises. Upon leaving, the thief lit a cigarette and, when he passed near one of the building’s loading and unloading docks, he threw the cigarette butt. It fell into a container with easily flammable material and caused chaos in the shopping center.
‼️Evacuated C.C La Vaguada due to a fire of cardboard containers, plastics, and packaging in the loading and unloading area. #FuencarralElPardo
👉🏻Nine teams from @BomberosMad intervene, quickly extinguishing and controlling the fire, with a lot of smoke load. pic.twitter.com/19QC0sZLYN
— Emergencias Madrid (@EmergenciasMad) August 1, 2026
The firefighters were forced to evacuate La Vaguada, located in the Fuencarral district, due to the large amount of smoke generated by the fire. Everything happened at half past five in the afternoon, with hundreds of citizens trying to take refuge from the heat wave in this climate refuge. Security personnel, municipal police, and national police coordinated the evacuation. It was a large commercial complex with 200 stores and an area of 85,000 square meters through which more than 25 million visitors pass each year. The surrounding streets had to remain closed for several hours.
The flames were extinguished relatively easily, but the dense smoke they left behind took time to dissipate. In fact, one of the security employees had to be treated for smoke inhalation, although it was mild. Nine fire teams had to be dispatched to the scene. All this deployment because of a cigarette butt thrown out of the resentment of the one who was caught.
Read more Five people die in Indonesia in a ferry fire with more than 200 passengers
Since from the beginning there was suspicion that the fire had been caused by human hands, either intentionally or accidentally, security services and the police began to investigate the origin of the flames and identified a subject as a possible perpetrator of the acts.
Around one in the morning, a patrol working in the area found a man on Monforte de Lemos avenue hiding from them “in an evasive attitude” between two cars, according to the Madrid Police Headquarters. These officers identified him and linked him to the fire started eight hours earlier. For this reason, he has been arrested. He is a 52-year-old Spanish man with a criminal record for property crimes, that is, thefts or robberies.
Read more A young man, seriously injured by an attack with a bottle by a minor in Puente de Vallecas
